Having a few days to relax is nice. Cassie is slowly adapting to her new servos, and Corax wastes no opportunity to show off how fast he is. It's incredible just how much that new motor speeds him up. He's able to keep up with even the fastest bird mind rips in the city.

Therapy is rough, but I guess it'll help eventually. I still don't believe her when she says what happened isn't my fault, but apparently I don't have to? Recontextualizing what happened by imagining Cassie was the one who made the same choices might eventually help, but even if I wouldn't blame her for what happened, I still can't accept that means my decisions aren't my fault. E-1 says that's normal though, and that blaming myself for so long has reinforced those connections in my chip. The only way to fix that is by inventing and repeating reasons everything isn't my fault, even if I don't believe them, to build new neural pathways to allow my mind to begin to see the truth. It feels like lying, but I should keep going.

When I'm not shutting down during therapy or reading to Cassie, we end up just staying inside the compound. Cassie's more comfortable that way, and she eventually stops being ready to draw her knife at all times when we're outside. We even end up talking to a few people! Not enough to call anyone a friend, but it's nice to be able to recognize a few people.

We never go back to the cherry grove. The one time we catch a glimpse of it during a walk, Cassie nearly gags. We do find a few more trees to sit in and hang out with the other birds though. I'm glad her getting sick in one doesn't stop her from climbing in others. Our quiet moments together feel so precious, I'd hate to lose them.

We're in one of those very trees when E-1 comes to find us. We've already had our therapy session today, so I'm not sure what she's here for.

"Oh! Good! All three of you are already together." She says, clasping her hands together. "Clover has been recovered, at least kind of, but we're running out of time before the storm ends. We'd like to discuss our plans for recovering Vince, Ivy, and a quantum AI Mara abducted."

"Fucking finally." Cassie jumps from the branch, but lands less smoothly than she used to. Even a few days of practice isn't enough for her to be used to her new legs.

Corax hops onto my shoulder for an easy ride as I climb down the tree. I'm almost surprised he didn't use this as another opportunity to show off and circle the entire building before I reached the ground. I guess now is too important to show off.

"Where do we need to go?" I ask.

"The discussion will be taking place in the main auditorium. Just a warning, it will be public, as this decision affects everyone."

"That's fine, thank you." I speak up before Cassie can say anything. I know how unhappy she is at that fact, but this is the only way we're going to have a chance at rescuing them. Complaining is only likely to make things worse. At least she'll have her knife and the device she stole in Vegas if anything goes bad.

E-1 turns around and we follow close behind her. Cassie's hand settles on her hip the moment we see another person. It's Chloe, someone who we've spoken to a few times. She gives us a smile and mouths the words 'good luck'. Guess everyone else already knows. I haven't even seen the birds spread the news yet. It doesn't feel great to be the last to know about our own meeting, but that can't be changed now.

The main street is flooded with AI and humans alike, all headed to the large semicircular building at the far end of the cavern. I brush my hand against Cassie's, offering my support, and she takes it, squeezing as hard as her mechanical arm will let her.

E-1 thankfully takes smaller paths outside the main road. Sure there are still people here, but Cassie has much more space. It's far easier to keep track of everyone compared to the mass of people just a few streets away. Thankfully people are doing their best to pretend to ignore us. Sure, they glance at us, but seeing Cassie's unhappy face is enough to get them to look away wordlessly.

Instead of leading us to the main doorway, she breaks off from the crowd and takes us towards a flat part of the building. A hidden door slides open as we approach, revealing a series of long, undecorated access tunnels with plain doors at regular intervals. She walks down them before turning into one of the endless doors, leading us into a small, comfortable waiting room. A few chairs and couches sit around a table with a small amount of food and water spread out across it. A second door sits at the far end of the room.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Alright." E-1 gestures to us to take a seat. "We don't have to be in for another few minutes, so you two can relax for a bit."

"What should I expect?" Cassie asks, her arms crossed and her foot tapping hard against the ground. "What's it look like in there?"

"The room is shaped like a pit. On all sides there will be the physical citizens watching, and even more watching from the Digital. All unofficial discussion will be happening in the Digital. If you want to join in on that, there will be a tablet for you, Cassie, and ports that you, Blue and Corax, can plug yourselves into beneath your chairs."

"I don't think I do." I have my new processors, but I've found the limit now is that my mind just isn't used to that much power all the time. I can keep track of a million different threads, sure, but the more I watch, the less I comprehend. It's better for me to focus solely on the important discussion, not how every individual person feels about it.

"Alright, that's fine. When we go out there, you'll see a small collection of chairs in a circle. Everyone in the discussion gets one, and everyone is on the same level, both metaphorically and literally. Nobody is technically in charge of the conversation, but please, don't be the reason we have to change this system."

She glances at the three of us for any objections before locking her eyes onto Cassie.

"Just a warning, Clover is in rough shape. It's her first time fully disconnected from the hive mind since she rejoined them, and she's not taking it well. I'm not sure how similar she will be to the last time you saw her, so be prepared for that."

"I barely spoke to her anyway, I don't really remember what she was like in the first place." Cassie says.

"Alright. Please keep in mind for the discussion, we know what you want, and you know we want the quantum child back. We have no interest in doing deals the same way humans do. We just want to reach a decision we're both happy with, not to play games or get one up on each other. We'll offer everything we can, and expect you to do the same. From there we'll come to an agreement that both parties are happy with together."

"That's perfectly fine with me." I say. "I don't know how much we have to give though."

"We know, and it's ok. If it was impossible to make a deal, we wouldn't even bother scheduling this. I think that's everything I have to say, do you have any questions?"

"Does everyone have to watch?" Cassie asks. "That's a lot of people."

"Yes. We don't do anything behind closed doors, and with something as big as this, everyone is going to be here."

"Fucking great." Cassie lets herself drop into one of the chairs.

"Who are we going to be talking to?" I ask. "Anyone we know?"

"Well, me, for one. There will be one person representing each type of person here, quantum, biological, software, mind rips, and humans. We thought having someone familiar with you three was important, so I will be there as well. That doesn't mean I'm always going to agree with you, of course, I will remain impartial to the best of my abilities."

"That's fine." It'll be nice to have someone who's lived my memories and can share them, just in case I can't.

"Everyone else will want to introduce themselves in person. If you don't have any other questions I'm going to head on through."

Cassie and Corax both stay quiet.

"I don't think we do."

"Alright. Take a couple minutes to yourselves, and come through when you're ready." E-1 gives a comforting smile before moving towards and stepping through the far door.

"Are you alright?" I ask Cassie as I take a seat next to her.

She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye, silently asking me what I think.

"I can do most of the talking." I offer.

"That's not the problem."

"I know, but it's the only thing I can do. And if anything happens, I'll be right beside you. We do everything together, right?"

The corners of her mouth twitch upwards.

"One of us is going to get the other killed." She says.

"No." Corax says.

"If we die, then nobody will be there for Vince and Ivy. Which means we'll make it work." I say. "We'll figure it out."

Her mouth twitches higher into a smile, and a small snort escapes her.

"Guess we're both going to get ourselves killed together then. Let's get this over with." She pushes herself out of the chair, and holds out a hand to help me out of mine.

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